Silverstone: Marc VDS event summary

The Fords GT of Marc VDS Racing Team blown away in Silverstone
The brand new FIA GT1 World Championship is still lacking a right
balance. This weekend in Silverstone, the Fords GT of the Marc VDS Racing
Team were the victim of that situation....

The Fords GT of Marc VDS Racing Team blown away in Silverstone

The brand new FIA GT1 World Championship is still lacking a right
balance. This weekend in Silverstone, the Fords GT of the Marc VDS Racing
Team were the victim of that situation. The cars of Leinders-Martin and
Kuppens-Palttala finished in 9th and 11th respectively. Worse for the
Mustang of Eric De Doncker: it was not allowed to race in the European
FIA GT3 championship, due to some sinister homologation affairs.

Once they arrived in Silverstone, the members of the Marc VDS Racing Team
quickly learned that the new balance of performance, which was supposed
to bring the performances of the different cars closer together, was not
at all working. The Aston Martin drivers were overjoyed once it became
clear that their car benefited from the new rules, unlike some other
cars, like the Ford. That meant that Kuppens-Palttala and Leinders-Martin
finished the qualification race in 16th and 18th place. In the
Championship Race on Sunday Leinders and Martin managed to climb to 9th,
while their teammates finished two places down. A disappointing result,
especially since the chassis of the Ford is not to blame.

Bas Leinders: "It is a promising World Championship, but it is still in
its infancy. Every team suffered from the common ECU made by Magneti
Marelli, imposed by the FIA, because the device does not work properly.
It even puts the reliability of the car in peril, which means that we
have to turn down the power. We already have one of the smallest engine
blocks of the field, so we suffer from lack of couple and it's more
difficult to get out of the corners. In short, the new balance of
performance made up by the FIA is advantageous for some teams - like the
Aston Martins, who drove in a different championship this weekend - but
not for us..."

No homologation for the Mustang

The Ford Mustang of the Marc VDS Racing Team, which had to be driven by
Eric De Doncker and his Canadian teammate Scott Maxwell, was supposed to
start the European Championship FIA GT3 in Silverstone. But the sporting
commissioners, or at least one of them, made that impossible. "Caused by
an administrative detail", an angry Eric De Doncker explained. "Our
homologation made it in time to the FIA, but the people there asked for
some more explanations on two points. We brought those clarifications to
Silverstone, but the national commissioner, who was responsible for this
first meeting, refused to accept them, claiming they were entered too
late. Even Stephane Ratel tried to change the situation, but to no avail.
More than three months of hard work, completely blown away by one man. We
will take our revenge at the next race..."